Grocery Stores Have Multiple Requirements Before Moving To A Neighborhood

Greensboro, NC - Having a grocery store near our home is something many of us take for granted. Some parts of Greensboro have grocery stores across the street from each other. However, other neighborhoods can't convince any company to move in.

In a story we broke yesterday on digtriad.com, Save-A-Lot decided not to open a new store at the Bessemer Center, which devastated many of the neighbors.

Before any major grocery store chain moves into a neighborhood, the company studies the area. They look for a whole range of things from income to population to competition in the area.

While it might seem like a well-known grocery store chain may be the only option, that's not always the case.

"Large scale grocery stores might not be the first answer to alleviating some of the issues that are facing food deserts," said UNCG Professor Marianne LeGreco. "What we really need to be focusing on are some of the smaller, more community based approaches like community gardens and urban farms."

LeGreco says smaller ideas like community gardens or farmer's markets can actually help attract the attention of those larger grocery store chains.

"By demonstrating that people really do want to buy more whole foods or more fresh fruits and vegetables, it really demonstrates to some of those larger companies and larger grocery stores and supermarkets that - maybe it's a good idea to start up a new grocery store," she said.